Page 55 - Chinese Works of Art Bonhams Sept 2015

8061

8061
A GILT BRONZE BELT HOOK, DAIGOU
Eastern Zhou to Han dynasty
Hollow cast as a lanky monkey resting along a branch on its stomach, the body entwined with
vines, one arm hanging loose, the other arm wrapped around a branch, the branch ending in a
dragon-head terminal, retaining remnants of a gilt surface and inset with clear glass inlays, the
reverse with a round button for attachment.
6 1/4in (16cm) long
$15,000 - 20,000
東周至漢 鎏金銅猴形帶鉤
Provenance
Zen Gallery, Belgium, April 1996
A turquoise-inlaid gilt bronze belt hook similarly formed as a monkey with arms
outstretched ahead and downwards, dated to the Eastern Zhou period, is illustrated by
G. Eskenazi, A Dealer’s Hand: The Chinese Art World Through the Eyes of Giuseppe
Eskenazi, London, 2012, p. 197, pl. 55.
The same hook was also included in the exhibition Nomadic Art of the Eastern Eurasian
Steppes: The Eugene V.Thaw and Other New York Collections at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York in 2002, and published in the Catalog, p. 146, no. 122, where the author notes
that the monkey was “a popular motif of late Eastern Zhou and early Western Han art, [and it]
is frequently encountered on decorations in bronze... another comparable example is a silver
belt hook excavated at Qufu, Shandong Province, the site of the ancient capital of the state of
Lu, which dates to the fourth century B.C. (Qufu Lu guo, 1982, pp. 159-60, figs. 106, 107).”

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